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Friday, November 17, 2006

Hello! If you're a new bread baker—or if you're an experienced bread baker who wishes they could create tastier loaves—you might enjoy my Ten Tips For Better Bread. This post discusses things like using 'old' dough and an autolyse and taking the temperature of your dough, all of which are called for in this recipe.

Last night I decided that today was going to be the day I finally posted my Oatmeal Toasting Bread recipe. Hours later I found myself lying in bed in the dark, wondering if I'd ever gotten around to writing down the weights of the ingredients, and if not, if it would be ridiculous to weigh them all out but not actually bake bread because between writing up the post and dealing with the two coolers full of venison on the back porch that I've been ignoring—but that I have now decided I am actually 'aging,' which will make the meat taste even better—there certainly wouldn't be time.Then this morning I awoke to discover I'd been publicly humiliated—as well as reminded of just how many times I've promisedtosharethisrecipe. Okay, I can take a bold-faced hint. So here it is. I really don't know what the hold up has been, except for the fact that my life seems to be perpetually stuck in an irritating and mildly anxiety-producing catch up mode. In addition, my surroundings are perpetually stuck in a cluttered feng shui nightmare mode, which makes finding things a real pain sometimes, but that's a whole other subject. No wonder I drink all that Tension Tamer tea. Anyway, if you've been looking for a new and interesting bread to try baking, this could be it. It's different, tasty, isn't difficult to make, freezes beautifully, and is slightly better for you than my popular Farmhouse White. It also makes quite possibly the best toast I've ever eaten.

This is one of my favorite breads. You can also use the dough to make scrumptious burger buns and dinner rolls (see photo below), which would be a wonderful addition to any Thanksgiving table. If you feel like really going all out, you could fill your bread basket with a mixture of Oatmeal Toasting Bread rolls and some of my festive carrot herb rolls (I love these). Just be sure to make enough for little leftover turkey sandwiches.

I've been baking variations of this bread for over ten years, experimenting until I came up with what I consider the perfect loaf. The recipe I originally started with came from a 1995 issue of Gourmet, but since I've ended up changing pretty much everything about it except for the basic ingredients, I claim this version as all mine.

Of course I've found that as soon as any bread recipe (or formula, as commercial bakers call them) is invited into a baker's kitchen, it immediately becomes their own, even if they're attempting to follow it to the letter. Because whether it's by chance or by choice, your bread will most likely end up looking and tasting different than mine. And while this may not be all that desirable when one is creating a cake, I believe it's one of the endearing qualities of handmade bread. No two loaves are ever completely alike.

That said, I invite you to take my recipe into your kitchen and share your results with the rest of us. For instance, when I first sent this recipe to my bread baking partner in crime, Beth (aka kitchenMage), she substituted wheat bran for the oat bran and created an entirely new loaf. She now makes a decadent Cinnamon Spice Pecan Swirl version—and tells me the dough makes awesome cinnamon rolls.

So bake this oatmeal bread and then leave us a comment describing your version. Did you halve the amount of yeast and double the rising time? Knead the dough with a standing mixer? Make it with milk instead of water? Use honey and natural margarine in place of the sugar and butter? Toss in some whole grain flour and a little cracked wheat? Add a few handfuls of raisins and a cup of homemade applesauce? Make your bread in the shape of a braid? If you write about it on your blog, you're welcome to include a link to the post in your comment.

One bread recipe is now in many hands. I'm so glad I finally got around to sharing it, and I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Makes three 8"x 4" loaves, approximately 24 ounces each, plus 10 ounces of dough to save as 'old dough' for your next batch.

This is the 'old dough' version - instructions are included below for how to make this bread without old doughAs always, I recommend using local and organic ingredients; they really do make a difference. Organic flours and grains are readily available and reasonably priced; look for them in the bulk section at natural food stores. Even organic sugar is becoming mainstream.

I buy one pound packages of instant yeast and keep it in a jar in the freezer, where it lasts for at least a year. I've never had good luck with those little envelopes of yeast, and even if you end up tossing half a pound of the bag out, the larger package is still a bargain.

An instant read thermometer is an inexpensive and indispensible tool; use it to check the temperature of your ingredients, your rising dough, even the air temperature by setting it in a glass of room temperature water.

A digital kitchen scale is another very worthwhile investment. I love my Oxo Good Grips 11-pound scale and often use it several times a day to weigh everything from recipe ingredients to freshly harvested kitchen garden bounty. It's also great for weighing postage. The pull-out display is awesome.

**If you don't have any old dough, simply follow these instructions, but ignore the part where it says to add the old dough, and do not take out 10 ounces of dough when shaping the loaves.Straight Dough Method (when you have no old dough) that will make old dough for your next batch:If you don't have any old dough, use the recipe above but use 4½ cups of water or milk instead of 4 and adjust the flour accordingly - you'll probably need less than 1 cup extra flour. Also, ignore the part where it says to add the old dough (because you don't have any yet).

Combine the oats, oat bran, brown sugar, and butter in a very large bowl. Add the hot water and stir until combined. Let the mixture sit until about 80°F, about 30 minutes.

Combine the yeast with 2 cups of the bread flour and stir into the oat mixture. Continue stirring in the flour one cup at a time until a soft dough forms. Transfer the dough to a well floured surface and knead for about 8 minutes.

Cover the dough with the bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Knead in the salt & old dough for 5 minutes, or until they're completely mixed in. Sprinkle the flour in the dough bowl, place the dough in it, liberally dust it with flour, and cover it with a damp tea towel.

Ferment (first rise): Approximately 1½ hours if dough is at an optimal 70° to 75°F. When the dough is ready, you should be able to push your finger deep into it and leave an indentation that does not spring back.

Old dough ready for the freezer

Divide and shape into three loaves, after taking out about 10 ounces to make 'old dough' for your next batch of bread, if desired. (If not, your loaves will just be slightly larger.) 'Old dough' can be wrapped in plastic, put in a zipper bag, and frozen until you are ready to use it.

There are dozens of ways to shape your dough into loaves. I form mine into "logs," and the method I use comes straight from the pages of the wonderful book, Amy's Bread. Here it is, word for word, because if you're like me and have trouble thinking three-dimensionally, this isn't the kind of thing you want to try paraphrasing. (Thanks, Amy!)

"When shaping your loaves, the most important thing to remember is to be gentle with the dough. Your goal is to form an even loaf with a taut skin, while leaving some larger air holes inside.

Very lightly flour the work surface. Start by forming an envelope: Place the dough on the table. Press and flatten it gently with your fingertips to form a rectangle with a short side facing you, leaving a lot of air bubbles in the dough. Fold the top edge down over the middle of the rectangle, then fold the bottom edge up.

Give the dough a quarter turn and repeat the process, folding the top edge down and the bottom edge up again and overlapping the edges slightly in the middle so the dough looks like an envelope. Pat the seam to seal it. Now you have a smaller, tighter rectangle.

Form a cylinder: Starting from the top edge of the rectangle, fold the top third of the dough over itself with one hand. With the heel of your other hand, gently press the seam to seal it. Fold the dough one third of the way down again and work from one end to the other to seal the seam. Try to keep the skin of the dough smooth and tight but not so tight that the skin tears.

Repeat this process one or two more times, until the loaf is a nice round log. Seal the final seam completely with the heel of your hand. Ideally your seam should be straight and tight with no openings or flaps of dough hanging out; with patience, this will become natural. If any dough is protruding from the ends of the log, poke it back in with your finger.

The plain log shape can be placed in a loaf or left on a cloth for a free-form second rise. From the log shape, you can make other cylindrical shapes."

Place logs seam side down in greased loaf pans, then brush the tops of the loaves with water and sprinkle with oats, if desired.

Or, if you want a heavy, even covering of oats on your loaves, you can brush them with water and then roll them gently in a plate of oats as shown in the above photos. Then place seam side down in greased loaf tins and cover with a damp tea towel.

Proof (second rise): Approximately 1 hour if dough is 70 to 75°F. The loaves are ready for baking when you make a slight indentation with your finger in the dough and it does not spring back. Note: this dough will not rise a whole lot while baking, so you want your loaves to be nearly finished size before you put them in the oven.

Bake at 375° for 35 minutes or until golden brown and bottoms sound hollow if tapped. Remove from pans and let cool on a wire rack. Try to wait at least 40 minutes before cutting into a loaf. Store at room temperature or freeze.

You can also use this bread dough to make scrumptious little rolls.Note: This dough also makes fantastic dinner rolls and burger buns. Just shape into whatever size you like and reduce baking time accordingly. Rolls and buns can be formed into individual balls and spaced far enough apart on a baking sheet so they aren't touching, or you can place them close together in any size pan and make 'pull-apart rolls.'

A pie or cake pan will give you a nice circle of rolls that look lovely on the table—or presented as a host/hostess gift.

90 comments:

Ha! Made you post it! LOL Great minds (or members of the superSecretBreadBakingCabal) think alike.

Seriously, this is the best bread! You should all go put down that no-knead loaf that Bittman is waxing rhapsodic about and make this. It's lovely dough, very forgiving, and freezes beautifully. If we're out, someoneElse is sure to ask when I am making more. Speaking of which, I think I am about out--must go pull the old dough ut of the freezer to thaw.

Susan,I was trying to decide if (and what) bread to make for T'day. Now I know. I also just figured out what I want to do for a living, I want to make salumni to go with your breads. If we could find a cheesemaker to join us we could sell "Sandwiches from Scratch."

KM,May I join the superSecretBreadBakingCabal? I promise to sit quietly in the corner and just ferment over my knead to participate.

We bought a house earlier this year in an area which most of our friends aren't willing to concede is still in metro Atlanta. I did locate a dairy a few roads down which sells to the local grocery stores and offers hormone free dairy products at the farm site. I also hear there are beekeepers nearby.

I made this today. It was very fun to make, a little more involved than my usual basic honey whole wheat bread. I only had one problem-- it didn't bake long enough. It sounded hollow when tapped, but it was doughy in the middle. So, it was good, but not divine. But next time! Thanks for the recipe, it made me realize that even an "ordinary" stay-at-home mom can make bread that's more than ordinary.

I just made my favorite oatmeal bread tonite, using a recipe from Betsy Oppeneer's The Baking Book.

My own trick: add a small amount of freshly grated nutmeg; less than 1/2 tsp for rwo loaves. It brings out the subtle sweetness in the bread, (my/Betsy's recipe uses honey), and imparts a really nice smell.

I am soo going to make this! I lol reading KM's entry. (SuperSecretBreadBakingCabal Yay!)Posting about your bread will take some time though, because I will be going away for a couple of days, meeting a fellowblogger in Austria. But I promis I will make this bread as "soon" as I get back.

Lovely bread! I used wheat germ instead of oat bran and substituted one cup of whole wheat flour. Made two loaves of raisin bread with it using brown sugar, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg - those have disappeared very fast. The pan of rolls will get served later today with T-day dinner.

I can't remember if I've delurked before - I love your blog and enjoy reading about your animals and your recipes!

Well, your Oatmeal Toasting Bread was wonderful. I used my bread maker to mix the dough, although the amounts were too much for my machine - it sorta mixed it. I did use much less yeast, remembering Mark Bittman's recent recipe, and I used cracked wheat and a couple of spoons of brown rice for added texture.It was very fine, indeed, and your blog is a joy to read every morning. Thanks for much pleasure, Alice

So once again you inspired me. I've never been a baker but first you conned me into making beer bread, then pizza dough, now you got me to make my very first ever REAL bread. I am shocked.

Anyway, it was great. I did all wheat/oatmeal (didn't have any of that bran stuff). I'm afraid I'm hooked now.

Next time will be even better because I'll cook it longer (this time it was doughy in the middle) and follow the directions better. Even though I messed up some it was really good flavor & I have starter dough for next time. I feel so good!

Thanks for the recipe! I've now made it twice. Changes/substitutions follow.

First time: followed recipe exactly except I substituted 2 cups of whole wheat bread flour for some of the white. It turned out great, and as you note, excellent for toasting.

Second time: halved the recipe (3/4 on the yeast because I didn't feel like waiting forever for it to rise), reduced wheat-to-white ratio, added a bit of wheat germ for crunch (threw it in with the oats/bran at the beginning), subbed honey and white sugar for the brown (I was out of brown, and wanted to try for a slightly sweeter bread anyway, so increased the volume of sweet as well). Made one loaf and five small rolls -- holy god are they good. This might be the recipe I stick with.

I was a complete failure at bread baking before this recipe and your Ten Tips post, so thanks for helping me figure it out! :)

Hi, I've been making Vienna bread for the grans and biscuits for my husband but this bread is tops. Both our cholesterols (sp) were up at the last Dr. visit so I thought the something with the oat bran in it would be good for us. I googled "oat bran bread" and the Oatmeal Toasting Bread recipe came up. I tried it and we both loved it. My husband immediately went to Sam's and bought 50 pounds of bread flour and then ordered what looks like fifty pounds of oatbran to insure that I would continue to make this bread. I also have some San Francisco Sourdough culture so, of course I experimented with that. Instead of adding the "old dough", I just add a little over a cup of the culture and then add flour till it makes a ragged dough. I use a KitchenAid mixer, Professional 600, and prepare two loaves at a time.The sourdough oatbran bread is great- so are the rolls and hamburger rolls. Am going to knead in some saute'd onion on those next time. Have also substituted oatbran for the oatmeal to get as much of the bran as possible for the cholesterol problem. It is great! The toast is great too. Thanks so much for posting this recipe and your other blogs are wonderful also. Keep up the great work. I love the chicken pics also.Sincerely,Darlene in Georgia

Yum! Such a satisfying bread. I made it without the old dough, with honey instead of sugar, substituted 2 cups whole wheat flour for white, and made one pan loaf and a dozen rolls. Thanks for the recipe!

I was super enthused to try this recipe as my first ever bread-baking adventure. (All the positive posts helped to spur me on.) I checked out sites and books to learn how to knead etc. But, alas, I have made 6 loaves (i.e. 2 recipes worth) that won’t rise on the second rise ☹. I think I was adding too much flour during kneading, or maybe its my basic filtered city water, or organic stone ground white New Zealand flour, or being at sea level (I live in NZ)? Well, I just made yet another batch (this time halved) and I can’t get my fingerprints to rise after the kneading process, even after kneading for more time and with less flour (so the dough is tacky –not sticky). Maybe I will take a class on bread making at the community college in order to learn a few tricks of the trade. I still enjoy your site and am keeping the hope alive for my bread making abilities☺

Hi Erica,Welcome to the wonderful world of baking homemade bread! I'm thrilled that this recipe inspired you to dive into the dough, and I feel terrible that you had such a disappointing first experience.

I'm not sure what the problem is, but one thought is that your yeast might simply not be any good. But if you are getting the dough to rise the first time, then that's probably not it. Another possibility is that for some reason the yeast is exhausting itself after the first rise (maybe you're letting it rise too long?) and it simply doesn't have the energy to rise a second time.

What you might try is shaping the loaves and putting them into the pans right after you knead the dough. Let the loaves rise in the pans and then put them in the oven. I see a lot of whole wheat bread recipes that call for just one rise because it can be hard to get that heavier whole grain dough to rise as easily as white flour dough. Your finished bread won't have quite as nice a flavor and crumb, but it is certainly better than nothing (or storebought bread!) and if you got it to work with one rise, you might have a better idea how to tackle two rises.

Another option is to try a simpler recipe to start--or even pizza dough if you haven't already (click here for my simple, straightforward recipe). You might want to try my Farmhouse White (click here for the recipe). I've been tweaking and experimenting with this bread for over 7 years. Once you master the all white flour version, you can start tossing whatever you like into the dough--some whole wheat flour, a cup or two of oats, some wheat bran, a little honey, etc. The other day I added just 1 cup of oat bran to the recipe and it gave the bread a really nice flavor and texture.

My apologies for not getting back to you sooner. I hope this helps and that you haven't given up on baking bread! : )

Hi Candygirl,Well, I guess you'll just have to bake up another batch of Farmhouse White. More bread--oh no, poor you. ; )

As for what the 'old dough' does, I'm taking this straight out of Amy's Bread which is one of my favorite bread books and where I learned about using old dough when making bread (click here to read more about it--it's out of print and fairly pricey, but it's really a great book).

Sponge Starters vs. Old Dough Starter (from Amy's Bread):

"Many of our recipes use a sponge starter made from flour, water, and a small amount of yeast. The sponge, which has the consistency of a stiff batter, is allowed to rise once at room temperature and then can be used immediately or stored, covered with plastic wrap, for a day or two in the refrigerator. In France the sponge is called poolish, in Italy it is called biga. We like sponge breads because they have a moist, chewy texture with more flavor, a nicer crust, and a longer shelf life than straight yeast breads. These are many of the same qualities that make sourdough breads so appealing, but you can achieve them without the extended process of making a sourdough starter.

"At the bakery, we usually mix 50 or 60 extra pounds of our Country Sourdough Bread to use as 'old dough' (we call it a 'chef') for several different kinds of bread in our next day's mix. Using an old dough starter is similar to using a sponge, but instead of making a flour and water batter, you simply incorporate a piece of mature dough into a new batch of dough. Because your piece of old dough is already mature, it contains lively yeast and the flavor of wheat from the flour has had some time to develop. The old dough method produces a full-flavored loaf with a lighter, open-textured crumb than a straight yeast dough and an extended shelf life."

Hope this helps. Thanks so much for taking the time to write and tell me that you tried some of my bread recipes. I'm so happy you're enjoying them. Happy baking! : )

I chose this bread to reenter the bread making world without using a bread machine. I made quite a few mistakes but I noted down what they were and modified the way I made it the next time. The next time I made the bread it turned out good but cakey....not excatly what I was looking for. So I am wondering if I can halve the recipe and let it rise in the machine then take it out and let it rise in the pans after shaping? If anyone has any other ideas how to help with the mixing please let me know. I have stiff joints but I do like making different breads.

Thank you so much for the advise. I have now made several amazing loaves of farmgirl white (with a little oat bran and wheat germ). They continue to come out amazing!

Tonight I used your pizza dough recipe, which my four-year-old and I decorated with yummy toppings. They were an absolute hit with the family. I feel heaps more confident about making dough -as if I'm developing an intuitive sense. (I can dream!) Soon I will tackle the oatmeal toasting bread, which I know is going to be great -this time. Thanks again!

Oh, I almost forgot, I've also used the cookie, beer bread, and lentil sausage soup as base recipes for delicious eats. Obviously, your cite has inspired me!

hello, Iam about to make all three of your breads this week. I have advice to make brown sugar use white and add molasses,process in food processor lit brown or dark uses more molasses. also where can I find bran?

Hi Cors,I'm so happy to hear that you're planning to try three of my bread recipes. As for buying bran, you should be able to find both wheat bran and oat bran at any natural foods store. Look in the bulk section, as the prices are usually best there. I pay about 75 cents a pound for organic wheat bran and $1.50 a pound for organic oat bran. I hope this helps. Thanks for taking the time to write, and happy baking! : )

I finally made this bread today...but I had a bit of a problem. I didn't have oat bran so I substituted oats instead. Looking back, I think my mistake was not increasing the water (4 cups) so that during proofing, the dough "cracked". Now the loaves have this crater in the middle. I also had a problem with the baking time as 35 minutes were not enough one of the loaves was a still doughy in the middle (though it could also be that the oven temperature dropped to 350F). Was there something else that caused the craters?

The first time I made it straight with no old dough. Subbed 2 cups of wheat for 2 cups of white flour and used a combo of turbinado and cranberry honey for the sweet. Excellent! The 3 loaves didn't make it more than 2 days around here.

The second time (yesterday) I used the old dough and exchanged 1 more cup of wheat for the white and used 1/4-1/2 cup of cranberry honey for the sweet. Also excellent.

Thanks for the recipe. I think I've found a sandwhich bread everyone around here will eat.

hello! I just tried my first slice of this, warm and spread with good butter and strawberry jam, and it was wonderful! So soft, tender, and lightly sweet. I've made bread before, but this is certainly one of the best.

I made two loaves and froze a third of the dough for later (I froze it after the first rise). One loaf I made into cinnamon swirl, as kitchenmage suggested. The other I made plain. I can't wait to make french toast with it!

Instead of all water I used half buttermilk, half water. For my "old dough" i used some pizza dough, as that's all i had (not sure if that's recommended, but it worked for me). I also added a pinch of nutmeg to bring out the other flavors. Next time I may try using all buttermilk.

Looking at your recipe for Oatmeal toasting Bread & it sounds Delicious am a guy & don't have a lot of time .Do you have a bread machine recipe for this bread ? I haven't bought bread in 6 or 7 yearsmake it all at home. Thank You Dave

Hmmm, so tasty! What a wonderful recipe to share, thank you. While I haven't found a local dairy yet, we prefer to buy our honey and potatoes from the old guy who sells it out the back of his farm truck (though not at the same time!). It's good to be reminded to support farmers at the farm gate wherever possible - and it's best for both the farmer and the buyer that way, so everyone wins. Thanks again!

Hi! I've made this several times now with raisins and cinnamon. I first soak 2/3 cup raisins in hot water to plump them up then use that water (plus whatever amount to make up the rest) for soaking the oat mixture. I also add about 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon and 1/4 cup dry milk to the oat mixture. Sometimes I use oil instead of butter and sometimes I sub 1/4 to 1/2 cup rye flour for some of the bread flour (I add in a little vital wheat gluten if I do that). All the measurements are for a single loaf. It's just the two of us so we don't go through bread very quickly since I found out I'm allergic to wheat (!) so I only make one loaf at a time. But my husband LOVES this loaf! He toasts it and makes a sandwich with cheese and a veggie burger - swears it is the best sandwich in the world! Thanks for the jumping-off recipe! - Ella

I discovered your blog last summer while looking for a recipe for oatmeal bread. In the process I realized we have a good friend in common, Beth Sheresh, otherwise known as the kitchenmage. We live just a few miles apart in Skamokawa.

Now back to your bread. My wife and I run a bed and breakfast here in Skamokawa and bake bread for our local farm market in the summer and for subscribers in the winter. The demand for a whole grain bread led me to your Oatmeal Toasting Bread which I then adapted with some whole wheat flour. While that was certainly good, some things just shouldn't be messed with. The recipe as you present it is just perfect.

I love your blog and admire your energy and skills. We are new to country living skills and blogging skills both of which need some shoring up. Keep up the good work.

Hi Everybody,Thanks for all your comments and feedback. It's wonderful to know that so many of you are enjoying this bread, and I love hearing about how you've the recipe your own.

Hi Alanna,You can certainly add some sourdough starter to this recipe. I haven't tried it, but for years I added a cup of sourdough starter to my Farmhouse White bread recipe as a way to use up the starter when it needed refreshing but I wasn't up to making sourdough bread.

Depending on how thick your starter is, you may have to add a little more flour to the recipe, and you may also catch a hint of that sour flavor in your loaves. Don't worry, though - the bread won't taste like sourdough.

You can of course make your oatmeal toasting bread using the 'straight dough' method without adding any old dough or starter. Just remember to save some old dough for next time.

If you have a few extra hours, another option is to make a quick sponge. Mix some of the water and flour with a little of the yeast and set it in a warm place for a couple of hours - it should be nice and bubbly and will improve your loaves. Then mix up the rest of the recipe, incorporating the sponge in with the other ingredients.

If you do make this with your sourdough starter, I'd love to know how it turns out. Happy baking!

This is a great recipe! I wanted to make a protein rich bread, so i substituted the oatmeal with a combination of about 3 cups white beans pureed and 1 cup oatmeal, then added 1/2 tsp of nutmeg and 1/2 tsp cinnamon, plus I added 2c of gronded slivered almonds (measured pre grinding). I used bread flour but reduced by 2 cups and added 2 cups wheat flour instead. I was nervous that all my substitutions would be a disaster but it came out great!

I tried the oatmeal toasting bread and we loved it. Mine did not rise as much as yours, but I think I needed more moisture in my dough. I will try it again soon! Thank you for sharing all the tips and recipes. I love your site!

We made 3 delicious loaves of bread and will HAVE to make some more this weekend as I have been trying to get ahead of the eating habits my hungry six year old has recently developed....4 slices of bread with peanut butter & strawberry jam open faced! WONDERFUL bread. Thank you soooo much for sharing this recipe!

Thanks so much for this bread recipe! I had just bought a bulk bag of oats and wanted to do something other than oatmeal in the morning, so I googled oat bread and it led me to you. I'd only ever made bread from scratch once (a week ago, must be some phase I'm getting into), and I loved how this turned out. It was a little doughey in the middle, so maybe it needed to cook longer, or maybe because I'm kneading everything by hand (no bread maker).

Either way, it got rave reviews from my fiance. We just graduated college and I'm working on cooking for us like "grown-ups." The other day I caught him eating the stale tail end of a costco triple-loaf-bulk-pack with ramen... So from a college (just barely out of) girl on a meager budget in a tiny apartment, thanks for a delicious, easy recipe!

~Sarah in Oregon

P.S. I'm going to my parents this weekend and I'm gonna try this in roll form for my dad for his birthday. Wish me luck!

Alright, I love fresh bread. For the past couple Ukrainian Easters I've inherited the role of making egg bread for our annual family Easter brunch, but that's the only bread I've ever made. It's epic and stressful but my worst-case scenario was always that the bread would come out merely "edible."

The first time I tried the oatmeal bread recipe, the result was Colossal Fail. I'm pretty sure I discovered a great recipe for making bricks or personal defence devices. The dough didn't rise and... well, didn't bake. It also didn't get eaten.

I returned to this blog to read all the comments about how fantastic and easy-to-make and "foolproof" this bread was. I fell into a depression.

After thinking about it and reading the recipe again, I decided to go back to what I know and swapped traditional active yeast for the instant variety I included in my first attempt.

I also probably didn't use enough instant in the first place.

Anyway, BAM, the dough that came out of my second attempt practically grew right out of the pan.

After eating a supper consisting of half a loaf of bread and a glass of milk, I can attest to the deliciousness of the bread... but I won't tell you it's "foolproof." Just go back and try it again.

Wow this is some deeeelicious bread! I made 2/3 of a recipe because I didn't want to over-work my kitchen aid mixer. We didn't have any oat bran so I just used some fiber one cereal, worked perfectly. Such a delicious recipe, thanks for sharing!

This is yummy bread! This is probably my 3rd attempt at yeast bread, above 7000 ft in a cool kitchen. I made several mis-steps and it still came out beautiful with a lovely texture and so tasty! Thank you for this recipe. I will continue to "practice" with this one.

Just wanted to say "thank you" for such a great recipe! I made this bread today for the second time in a week (first time I made the version that made some old dough, so was able to use it this time). SO good! This makes the BEST toast ever! This time I made 2 loaves and one pan of dinner rolls, which turned out amazingly well. I don't know if I will ever find out how well this bread freezes, though, because both times now I have given one loaf away (share the love!), and the rest hasn't stuck around long enough to make it to the freezer! I may try to make cinnamon rolls with it this weekend. Never having made them before, I'm just assuming that when it's time to shape the loaves, I would instead roll out the dough, slather with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, then roll it up and cut them, and then let them rise again before baking? I'm thinking these would be amazing with a cream cheese icing...So anyway, my family has now decided that I must bake this bread for them every Thursday...

I made this bread for the NYC blizzard snow day this afternoon, linked through kitchn/apartment therapy. Subbed coarse bulgar for oat bran, 4 C WW King Arthur flour for all bread flour, a French herb honey for the brown sugar and I didnt have any "old dough" to throw in there (though now I do from this batch!)so I went forward with an all virgin round. The smell is positively gorgeous in the apartment right now baking, it smells so rich and buttery! The rise and crust look nice albeit my texture is perhaps more rustic than yours pictured, but even before I cut into it I can tell this is going into the rotation. Merci!

I had been wanting to make this bread forever, and finally tried my hand at it yesterday. Our favorite bread is from Vermont, and you can only buy it in VT and some parts of NH (La Panciata, Oats n Honey bread). Since we don't live there (yet) I've been trying to find a recipe that most imitates it. This turned out fantastically. Certainly not La Panciata, but close enough! Best for toasting, dense, slightly sweet, crunchy exterior. I am very new to bread baking, but I followed your instructions exactly, and it turned out so well. I've got two more loaves worth of dough in the fridge, and I'm going to bake and freeze them later today! Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I look forward to trying other recipes from your site!

Love this recipe. I cut it down to one loaf, because I just don't have need for three. I loosely follow an Alton Brown basic recipe for bread, where the liquid equals 10 oz (not oils and such - just milk or water) and dry ingredients equal 16 oz or 1 lb. I live at 7,000 feet with humidity under 35% most times, so weighing ingredients makes a huge difference. My default fat/sweet for a single loaf is two tablespoons of each, so just went with that, so mine has more fat and less sugar than your recipe.

I have also found that 5 oz of white/bread flour and the balance whole wheat/other grains makes for a healthy loaf with good rise. I do add vital wheat gluten to help boost the rise. I also always proof my yeast (no matter the brand/type) in the water. It’s kind of a talisman at this point, even though it probably isn't necessary.

I also do my kneading in a standing mixer. Mix all ingredients together briefly, let rest for 20 minutes so the dry ingredients can hydrate, then kneed with machine for about 5 minutes. I did not have any "old" dough, so just made it straight. It is AMAZING toasted.

have three beautiful loaves in the oven now, and the house smells like heaven! have posted pictures on my facebook.. can't wait until they are out of the oven and sliced with some butter on them. I did braids, two loaves are a standard three braid, and one is a four braid.. very pretty!

Ugh.. I just dont know why my bread didnt work. I do make bread. I am familiar. I know how to knead. My milk wasnt hot so I didnt kill the yeast.I did ALL the steps. Added old dough, the waiting 20 mins before adding salt and old dough.Im left with flat bricks lol. Flat bricks. Ive made hundreds of loaves like my nan does. What would make this happen? I will try again but where could I have gone wrong?I rose just over two hours to double and shaped fine but they seemed to not rise enough in the pans.I did bake them off eventually and they just fell flat.Any ideas? I wont give up but boy what a waste of a day!

Hi Stacy,My apologies for not getting back to you sooner. I'm so sorry to hear about your flat bricks! It sounds like the yeast was exhausted by the time your loaves made it into the oven, so they didn't have enough ooomph left to spring up. Sometimes when this happens, the loaves don't rise at all in the oven, and sometimes they even fall flat. It's so disappointing.

I would suggest trying a shorter first rise and maybe even a shorter second rise as well. The results from under rising dough are usually much better than over rising it.

This isn't a very tall loaf, so it isn't going to spring up a whole lot in the oven, but it should rise some once it hits that heat.

One little test you can do is to put the loaves into the oven at different times - put one in, then wait 5 minutes and put then second one in, then wait another 5 minutes and put the third one in. If one loaf comes out looking much better than the others, then that's the amount of time you want to let it rise in the pan.

I hope this helps. And as frustrating as your baking session was, I do hope you don't give up on this bread. It does make a really nice loaf. Good luck! :)

Thanks for inspiring me to make fresh bread for my growing family. This recipe has cut my organic bread expense by more than 50%, not much to some people but when you go through 4 loaves a week it adds up. My kids have looked forward to my improving bread skills the last couple weeks, each batch becoming lighter and tastier now that I am using the old dough. Due to making this venture cost effective, I have used water only the last couple batches and haven't noticed much of a difference.Thanks!AmiePS The cinnamon version is awesome...and my Californian homeschool friends and I are a little jealous of your cool farm life.

I was looking for a bread recipe with oatmeal in it and came upon your blog. I'm inspired!

I made this bread last night but being out of oatbran, I substituted 1/4 cup of flax meal and 1/4 cup of wheat germ. I don't know if it improved the recipe but by 8:00am 3/4's of a loaf is all ready gone. This recipe is amazingly good.

Thank you also for all your bread making tips. I did not know to let my dough rest before adding salt.

I just made this bread the first time the other day, and it is awesomely wonderful! I'm a fan of oatmeal bread, and this is by far the best recipe I've found for it.

I do have a question, though. I used my scale to measure the ingredients for this recipe, and ended up using way more oats than the cup measurement specified. In factm maybe twice as many. Are oats that variable in weight, or is something else going on here? The total weight of the dough was a bit more than I expected. The result was fabulous, so it couldn't have been too far off the mark. Any ideas?

Hi Debstarot,I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe! My apologies for taking so long to answer your excellent question (how in the world has it been a month already??)

While many bread bakers swear by using weight, rather than volume, to measure ingredients, there are times when it confuses me - like what you're talking about with the oats.

The weight of some ingredients really can vary that much. I've bought all kinds of organic oats over the years, and some are small and dense (and sometimes thick), while others are larger, flatter, and thinner - thereby weighing less.

I've noticed the same thing with wheat bran. When I first created my 100% Whole Grain Bran Muffins, I used volume measurements while figuring out the recipe. Then I simply weighed those amounts of ingredients to get the weight measurements.

A few years later, I realized that the wheat bran I was now buying was completely different than what I had been purchasing - it was much finer and denser. A pound of it took up a whole lot less space than a pound of the lighter stuff - like you'd have something like an extra cup and a half of bran in one batch of muffins, which would definitely change the recipe!

Like I said, confusing. : )

It's good to know that your version with the extra volume of oats worked out. I would suggest measuring in cups next time, and see how the bread turns out.

That's one of the nice things about bread baking - usually the experiments often turn out really tasty! :)

I am SO glad I found you!I bake all the bread for my family and this is a great loaf! I am glad to find something different to try. I bake 2 times a week and my husband and son have been asking for this bread alot! Yesterday I added some vanilla and nutmeg and cinnamon for fun. It was awesome toast. You could smell just a hint of vanilla while it toasted. You are my new GO TO for recipes. I love your site and being a farm girl myself I love the pictures. I would love for you to do some sourdough stuff. I have a starter from a local bakery and would love to get a recipe for good sourdough that actually tastes like sourdough :) I will be getting on in the mornings while the kids are still in bed and reading and enjoying your farm snd recipes, Thanks so much!Gretchen

Hi Gretchen,I'm so glad you found me, too! Your cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla version of this oatmeal bread sounds fantastic.

As for sourdough recipes, I'm hoping to post at least a couple of them this year. In the meantime, I highly recommend the San Francisco Sourdough recipe in one of my favorite bread books, Daniel Leader's wonderful Bread Alone. I grew up eating freshly baked San Francisco sourdough, and one bite of this bread transported me right back to my childhood.

Right off the bat, I'm with you - this bread easily makes the best toast I've ever eaten.

I'm in the midst of baking it for the second time; the first was a couple weeks ago and the incessant whine from in front of the freezer where the mister was realizing there wasn't any left was starting to get to me :)

The first loaves turned out really well... alright, one of them didn't. Strangest thing ever - I did two pan loaves and one free form, and one of the two pan loaves didn't rise at all during the second rise. No idea why. Tasted just as fantastic, so no complaints.

Both times I have used 1/2 c. wheat germ in place of the oat bran (since that's what I've got in the house), water instead of milk (mister is dairy allergic) and the first time I used 3 c. whole wheat flour. This go round, I cut the whole wheat down to 2 c. Can't see that will change it all that much.

I suppose I should have read some of the comments here a little closer, also... I got a stand mixer for my just-passed birthday, and thought this would be a perfect first big test for the mixer. Giant fail. This recipe just makes too much dough for even the 5 qt. bowl to handle. I spent about 20 minutes picking dough out of mixer parts where dough should not go and finished up the kneading by hand. Next time I'll take BeeHive's suggestion above and make 2/3 the recipe :)

Anyhow, thank you bunches for posting this recipe - it will no doubt become my go-to house bread!

Thanks for posting this recipe. I recently started making our own bread partly for the cost savings over buying bread at the store and partly due to my DIY nature. I had started out with a bread machine that my mother in law gave us but was less than impressed with the results even after letiing it do the kneading and baking the traditional way. Also, we need more than a single loaf per week so it just took up too much time making multiple loaves with the machine. We joined Costco recently and I picked up a 50 lb sack of bread flour and a brick of Red Star yeast.

This recipe is perfect for our needs and is delicious. I did substitute ground flax seed for the oat bran since that was what we had and I tossed in about 3/4 cup of sunflower seed since my wife likes that in her bread. I made my second batch yesterday which means my first batch using old dough and it came out fantastic. Thanks again for posting the recipe.

Just found this excellent looking recipe and I have a quick question. There's no way (well...) I need to eat 3 loafs of bread, so I'd like to freeze the other two. Is it best to freeze the dough (then thaw, rise and bake) or thaw a loaf of bread already baked. Not sure if thawed bread becomes stale, etc. Thanks for such a great looking recipe!

Hi KibitzKnitz,I'm a big fan of baking two or three loaves of bread at a time and then freezing (or giving away) the extras. For me, it's much easier than dealing with frozen dough.

One of the best things about bread is that it freezes beautifully. I've never had a problem with it getting stale or anything else in the freezer, and all I do is pop the baked and fully cooled loaves in zipper freezer bags and toss them in the freezer.

Any ice that develops on the bread is easily brushed off when you pull the bread out to defrost.

I do recommend freezing whole loaves, as opposed to slicing them first. They thaw fairly quickly, and with a large sharp serrated knife, you can even saw through frozen bread if necessary. ;)

I just discovered your site and WOW! I'm a little confused about the oatmeal toasting bread instructions regarding not using "old dough". After the first rest, you say to add salt and "old dough" (which I won't be using) and knead. So, does that mean that you let the dough rest, then add only the salt and knead? Very anxious to try this recipe.

I've made this recipe three times now and I just have to comment again. I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU. This bread just gets better and better--Like you said in your post on dough conditioners, I add ginger, an egg, and lemon juice in the initial stage to feed the yeast, emulsify the fat, and break down the lytates. I knead for a good long time to get the gluten nice and elastic. I wait to add the salt until after the first proofing. I let it rise nice and slow. I put the bread lower in the oven and tent it with foil so the top doesn't cook faster than the bottom. I bake it hot for five minutes to take advantage of the initial bloom then lower the temperature. And it comes out perfect every time! That's 9 perfect loaves! I've never been able to produce bread this good, and my husband and daughter love it! I hereby vow never to buy bread from the store again. I am so confident about my bread baking now that I understand the science behind it. THANK YOU!

good morning farmgirl, on second round of bread with some in fridge for round three, "amazing recipe" best toast ever!!! I will never buy bread again. that's if i don't run out of flour. I did however eliminate all salt. you see i am a 46 year old guy, can barly peck this out, but can build or repair almost any thing and i also have hi blood pressure, so "salt bad" great job, even I can do it!

Just made this delicious oat bread! I replaced the oat bran with 1/2 cup of toasted wheat germ soaked over night with the oatmeal and milk. This ensures a nice high rise and the oatmeal simply melts into the flour ingredients!

My wife and I made our first ever loaves of bread using your white bread recipe. It turned out perfectly! We wanted to try the Oatmeal recipe so we made it the next weekend. We have made it 3 times now (this weekend will be #4). We have given some of it away to friends and they are AMAZED at the quality of the bread. They are still not 100% sure we didn't buy this at a professional bakery!This bread is easy to do, tastes GREAT and really is amazing toasted. I can't thank you enough for making bread this good accessible to even the most noob beginner.

Congratulations on your bread baking success! I love that you learned to bake bread with my recipes. So glad everybody is enjoying the oatmeal bread. It does make the best toast, doesn't it? Thanks so much for the feedback. :)

I made your farmhouse white two nights ago and it came out great. I just read through this recipe and I have two questions:

1. I bought 3 of the USA Pans (8.5" size) and they are really nice. You mentioned in this recipe that you line your pans with unbleached parchment paper - is that just for protecting them when you stack them for storage? For the recipe you say to grease the pan - you're not greasing and baking with the parchment are you? Just confused on this point!

2. The old dough. If I don't have any to begin with and cut off the 10oz piece - what I do with it? Freeze it right away or let it sit out for a while and then freeze it?

Hi Susan, I’ve been making this bread of yours for years, and just wanted to pop in and say thanks - it’s a great bread! I’ve also been thinking about trying a sourdough version, so if I post that I’ll link back.Beck

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!